Since our business was founded more than 40 years ago, Andron Facilities Management has been owned and managed by the Stewart family. Today, we are delighted to announce that Cheryl Stewart, daughter of Andron’s co-founder, Ron Stewart, has been appointed Chief Executive. Cheryl will officially take on the new role on June 1st.
Cheryl succeeds her dad, Ron, who co-founded Andron with his father, Ron Snr, in 1980. Ron will become Andron’s Chairman, retaining an active role in our business and helping ensure a smooth transition for our customers and our team.
Supporting Cheryl alongside Ron will be Andron’s existing experienced executive team, namely:
- Paul Orru, Chief Operating Officer
- Andrew Harper, Chief Financial Officer;
- and Derek Stewart, Chief Compliance Officer.
Made up of family and non-family members, the executive team is determined to continue providing our customers with the highest levels of service excellence while focusing on the family ethos and values.
This handover of leadership to the third generation of the Stewart family has been planned for some time and will not change anything for our customers, our team, our service, or our commitment to excellence in everything we do.
Remaining family-owned and managed is important to us. We care personally and passionately about the heritage of our business, the services we deliver, and retaining our reputation as a leading independently-owned facilities management provider. We hope that ambition is clear to our customers in the personalised service, consistency and reliability, superior quality, and long-lasting, trusted partnerships we provide.
“Being a family business, succession planning is critical to secure Andron’s long-term sustainability and retain the reputation for excellent customer service that our business has been built upon,” said Ron.
“Reflecting on the last 44 years, it’s hard to describe how it feels to see a company I started with just my father grow to the 2,500-strong team we have today. As you can imagine, it isn’t easy to step back from a role that’s been a massive part of my life, but I know it’s the right time for me, Cheryl, our team around the UK, and our customers.
“Cheryl has been preparing for this position since joining Andron’s board of directors in 2019, and I have complete confidence that she’ll continue to lead the company in the right direction.
“Knowing that Andron will remain family-owned and managed gives me confidence that we’ll stay true to our values and our culture as we look to the next 50 years and beyond.”
Cheryl will take on the role during an exciting period for Andron, as we continue to expand our operations across London and within the manufacturing, distribution, retail and leisure sectors.
“I grew up listening to stories from my dad and grandad about the early days of Andron. Their hard work and determination to build a successful family business from the ground up really inspired me and fuelled my passion for Andron, even before I joined in 2016,” said Cheryl.
“Having this opportunity to continue the incredible legacy my dad and grandad created is a tremendous honour, and I will be focused on ensuring we continue to serve our customers to the best of our ability each day.
“As I take on this new role, I am committed to preserving the family values and ‘people first’ culture that has underpinned our business for the past four decades.
“I am really excited about the future of our business. As an organisation, we are continuing our investment in people, sustainability, and technology to ensure we remain a great place to work for our colleagues and the most trusted partner for our customers.”
Reflecting on 44 years of Andron
The story of Ron and Ron’s journey from building a two-person carpet cleaning business to the national, multi-generational soft service provider we have today is inspiring for our team.
In 1980, after both men were made redundant within weeks of one another, the father and son duo spotted a local advert for a carpet cleaning machine. At the time, the oil industry in Aberdeen was booming, and recognising that oil companies would soon increase their office space as operations expanded, they uncovered an underserved and emerging market: office commercial cleaning services.
Always innovators, our founders chose our unique name to secure a prime slot in the “A” list near the front of the Yellow Pages phone book. Combining their shared name, Ron and Ron became ‘Andron’.
At the time, the cleaning industry was plagued by poor standards, short-termism, and undercutting. And as there was no minimum wage, cleaning companies often lowered wages for their staff just to win contracts—something our founders always refused to do.
This commitment to doing things differently from the start soon earned Andron huge trust and a reputation for reliability, leading to major local contracts with NorCo (the Northern Cooperative Society), Clydesdale Bank, and the Bon Accord retail centre.
From here, our co-founders expanded slowly and steadily into Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, London and eventually across the UK while always retaining the same core commitments they had made from day one.
Today, Andron remains one of the UK’s few privately owned medium-sized cleaning providers, proudly employing more than 2,500 people nationwide. Andron’s growth, success, and reputation are entirely organic, with no mergers and acquisitions since inception. Despite recent difficult economic times, we have achieved significant growth in our business while remaining true to the family ethos and values throughout.